London Rocks cineTREKS

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

ANARCHY: a state of disorder due to acscence or non-recognition of authority (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anarchy). The punk rock movement in the seventies was an absolute rejection of mainstream crass culture and its values. Much of the movement focused on non-conformity, anti-establishment, anti-authoritarianism and free thought. Having never publicly speak about my beliefs, I was drawn to the rebellion of this time but was most intrigued by the fashion that developed with this time and the beliefs. Fashion has been a center point of my life and I appreciate The Sex Pistols use of fashion to express their views and draw people closer to message they were trying to portray through their music. Honestly, this picture is ironic. For starters, Paul Cook, the drummer for the band, is wearing a shirt with the United Kingdom flag. In America, it is easily assumed that when someone is wearing the American flag printed on the shirt, that that person is a patriotic person and is supporting their country. I know in Professor Makey's class, we discussed the importance of flags in England and the United Kingdom and that they are used to display territory dominance in that area. By wearing a shirt with the UK flag on it, it sends the message that the music that he is playing, comes from the whole United Kingdom. Furthermore, it allows someone to interpret that the Punk Movement was not just a phase but more of a lifestyle for many people.My favorite part of the exhibit was this shirt that had a picture of breasts. I liked this shirt because their outrageous style, rebellious attitude and complete disregard of any authority captivated the youth of London, if we took inspiration from the sex pistols attitude we could take more risks step outside the box and create a unique and daring final piece. Additionally, many of their album covers and posters were similarly bold. The bright use of color, rough sketchy text, collage effect photos and messy paint splodges create a very eye catching image everything about it just screams punk, we could think about adding some of these effects in on our final images.Okay, so how would you describe your fashion sense? When asked this question, I tend to respond with my fashion is preppy, casual or easy going. My fashion sense is greatly influence today by the community I am living in, the people I am spending time with, what I see in the media and the music that I listen to. Up until the age twelve, my mom planned out all my outfits and styled my hair. I did not wear makeup and I just trusted her (like I had a choice). It was when I turned thirteen that I was (finally) given the responsibility to dress myself and do my hair. My mom also bought me some eyeliner, mascara and loose powder foundation to allow me to start wearing make and achieve a natural look. Unfortunately (read:by the good grace of God), I was unable to find any pictures of me from the time but I will paint you a word picture. I wore grey skinny jeans that were fastened by a black and white checkered belt that proudly displayed Vans on the buckle. I fashioned a “Fall Out Boy” or “Blink 182” band t-shirt, even though I never went to one of their concerts. Every day I sports a pair of once pearly white slip-on Vans that faded into a smoggy grey. The cherry on top to my most fashionable ensemble was my eyeliner that covered at least half of my eyelid and my hair that was fried to the roots from being straightened for an hour every day. This 'lovely' time in my life was influed by three things in my life; my friends, music and puberty.Culture can and will always have a huge influence on the youth. The Sex Pistols created an uproar that had a lasting impact on the world and how people define who they are.

ORIGINAL:

Okay, so how would you describe your fashion sense? When asked this question, I tend to respond with my fashion is preppy, casual or easy going. My fashion sense is greatly influence today by the community I am living in, the people I am spending time with, what I see in the media and the music that I listen to. Up until the age twelve, my mom planned out all my outfits and styled my hair. I did not wear makeup and I just trusted her (like I had a choice). It was when I turned thirteen that I was (finally) given the responsibility to dress myself and do my hair. My mom also bought me some eyeliner, mascara and loose powder foundation to allow me to start wearing make and achieve a natural look. Unfortunately (read:by the good grace of God), I was unable to find any pictures of me from the time but I will paint you a word picture. I wore grey skinny jeans that were fastened by a black and white checkered belt that proudly displayed Vans on the buckle. I fashioned a “Fall Out Boy” or “Blink 182” band t-shirt, even though I never went to one of their concerts. Every day I sports a pair of once pearly white slip-on Vans that faded into a smoggy grey. The cherry on top to my most fashionable ensemble was my eyeliner that covered at least half of my eyelid and my hair that was fried to the roots from being straightened for an hour every day. This 'lovely' time in my life was influed by three things in my life; my friends, music and puberty.My friends have always had a huge influence on my life. In middle school (where I know all people have peaked), it was the “cool” thing to be, what we called, punk. My friends and I enjoyed listening to bands that fell under the alternative category and enjoyed the occasional screamo, my favorite being A Day to Remember. This was not who I was but this is who my friends were so of course I gave it a try. I thrashed my head a little and tried to 'scream'. We were influenced by the attired of the lead singers in our favorite bands and hoped that our parents would not yell at us when we asked for another t-shirt that looked like all the rest or purposely put a hole in our jeans. This was who I wanted to be, but this was not me. My poor family was dealing with the Tiffani that ply cared about my friends, only ever took my headphones out to take a shower and was yelling at my family for every little thing they did and say to me. I have always been the preppy girl who loved pink, played sports more for the social aspect and shopping was more of a passion than a choir. But looking back on it, it showed me how much music can reflect on to a group of people, and that was what the punk movement was about. I was a state of disorder.

ANARCHY: a state of disorder due to acscence or non-recognition of authority (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anarchy). The punk rock movement in the seventies was an absolute rejection of mainstream crass culture and its values. Much of the movement focused on non-conformity, anti-establishment, anti-authoritarianism and free thought. Having never publicly speak about my beliefs, I was drawn to the rebellion of this time but was most intrigued by the fashion that developed with this time and the beliefs. Fashion has been a center point of my life and I appreciate The Sex Pistols use of fashion to express their views and draw people closer to message they were trying to portray through their music. Honestly, this picture is ironic. For starters, Paul Cook, the drummer for the band, is wearing a shirt with the United Kingdom flag. In America, it is easily assumed that when someone is wearing the American flag printed on the shirt, that that person is a patriotic person and is supporting their country. I know in Professor Makey's class, we discussed the importance of flags in England and the United Kingdom and that they are used to display territory dominance in that area. By wearing a shirt with the UK flag on it, it sends the message that the music that he is playing, comes from the whole United Kingdom. Furthermore, it allows someone to interpret that the Punk Movement was not just a phase but more of a lifestyle for many people.

AntenAYE

After a long and well needed 10 hours of sleep I was excited for the first day of actually exploring London and seeing what the city held. While it was our second night in London, we attended one of The Lates at the London Natural History Museum, I was first excited about being able to drink while in the museum (sorry mom) and being able to be a little kid and make my own pair of antennae and be a beautiful butterfly. As I wrote this sentence, I just laughed to myself because I just realized that I wanted to act like an adult but also act like a child ... AGH!!! I mean, nothing more screams adult hood than a nineteen year old drinking a mojito and attaching hot pink and royal blue pipe cleaners to reflect realistic antennae to a headband, am I right?

One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between a moth and a butterfly is the differences in the antennae. A butterfly's antennae are shaped almost like a golf club, they have a long shaft and a distinct bulb at the end. Moth's antennae resemble closer to a feather and are more saw-edged.

We were supposed to focus on being an outsider while at the museum. The aspect about myself and everyone else who came along on this trip was that we are loud. I tried so hard to listen to people's conversations but I could not hear a word other people were saying. People in London are a lot more quiet than people in the United States. Upon trying to find the answer as to why Americans are much louder, a Huffington post talked about how people, focusing on Americans, tend to not be aware of their surroundings and stems from our culture. "American culture emphasises the individual, and that connotes the uniqueness of each person. Because each person is unique, they have unique opinions and thoughts. So in order to have such unique interests represented, speaking your mind and speaking up are very important." This made me laugh in the aspect that, as we grow up, our parents, coaches, teachers are constantly telling us that we are unique and have the potential to reach greatness. Similar to the butterflies and moths, each have their own unique qualities that allow for people to differentiate who they are. It was not until I went to the museum that I learned about these differences. Maybe London will teach me something about myself about staying humble and calm. Im excited to observe these next few weeks and see what London has to offer!

UPDATE: London taught me so many things that I would have never learned about myself back in San Diego. Thanks for an awesome trip, Bill!

ORIGINAL:

After a long and well needed 10 hours of sleep I was excited for the first day of actually exploring London and seeing what the city held. While it was our second night in London, we attended one of The Lates at the London Natural History Museum that night, I was first excited about being able to drink while in the museum (sorry mom) and being able to be a little kid and make my own pair of antennae and be a beautiful butterfly. As I wrote this sentence, I just laughed to myself because I just realized that I wanted to act like an adult but also act like a child ... AGH!!! I mean, nothing more screams adult hood than a nineteen year old drinking a mojito and attaching hot pink and royal blue pipe cleaners to reflect realistic antennae to a headband, am I right?

I did, however, learn that one of the easiest ways to tell the difference between a moth and a butterfly is the differences in the antennae. A butterfly's antennae are shaped almost like a golf club, they have a long shaft and a distinct bulb at the end. Moth's antennae resemble closer to a feather and are more saw-edged.

I know we were supposed to focus on being an outsider while at the museum but I could not make myself feel like I did not belong there. I tried so hard to listen to people's conversations but I could not hear a word other people were saying. People in London are a lot more quiet than people in California. I tried to find things that made me feel different. It was difficult to go so out of my way to try and find things that made me uncomfortable and feel like I did not belonged. I was born in California, grew up in California and have continued my studies in California. You would think that I would have felt so out of place with having little diversity in the community where I have spent so much of my life. Additionally, San Diego State made sure that they warned us with all these stories they told us before our trip of people leaving two days . I had all these expectations when I first got to London that I would feel lost. Well, besides actually getting lost in the airport and somehow ending up fifteen minutes south of Hyde Park on my first day here, I have yet to feel lost in this big, beautiful city. Going to The Lates did not make me feel as if I was an outsider. I almost felt like I was at home because I was able to look at bugs that I saw in California, look at the tectonic plate that caused the earthquakes that gave me nightmares as a child and craft like I would for my sorority back at state. Although there are many aspects of London that are different from San Diego State and my home time, I am excited to find aspects that make me feel at home.

According to Merriam Webster, ruins means the remaining pieces of something that was destroyed. Whenever I hear the word 'ruin', I always think of ancient land that is no longer in tact but artifacts were left behind. With those artifacts, archeologists are able to assess what the site used to be, what it was used for and who lived there. Visiting a public artifact, like Bathes and Stonehenge, was truly a privilege. Focusing on Stonehenge, I was baffled in its presence and how it defied how I defined "ruins".

The earliest structures known in the immediate area are four or five pits, three of which appear to have held large pine ‘totem-pole like’ posts erected in the Mesolithic period, between 8500 and 7000 BC. Nobody knows if these are relevant to Stonehenge. n about 2500 BC the stones were set up in the centre of the monument. Two types of stone are used at Stonehenge – the larger sarsens and the smaller ‘bluestones. These made up in the inner horseshoe and outer circle.

Being a tourist, I was in awe as to how the stones were preserved, untouched and maintained for thousands of years, especially when in 1897, the area became a training area for the British military. Stonehenge impacts the way society thinks about the past. Much of society, when they think of those who lived before us, were not intelligent. Honestly, it is quite the opposite. Although we do not completely understand the purpose of these stones, researchers are able to interpret that stone signifies death and this may had been a sacred burial ground. Another theory proposes that the monument’s entrance faces the rising sun on the day of the summer solstice. For many, this orientation suggests that ancient astronomers may have used Stonehenge as a kind of solar calendar to track the movement of the sun and moon and mark the changing seasons. These two theories display their intelligence.

As for the present, Stonehenge has impacted England and the rest of the world with the mystery of what these stones were truly for. Reading through many sites, so many state that they have the interpretation that has been accepted by many. Well, how many is many? Stonehenge impact on the world today is that we do not have an answer. Not having an answer for something in today's time is crazy considering the amount of technology that has developed and will only further drive people to find answers.

In the future, in the search for the answer of what Stonehenge was truly designed for, will have a huge impact on history and technology. The Smithsonian wrote about a man, Vince Gaffney. Gaffney's greatest research effort, the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, is a four-year collaboration between a British team and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria that has produced the first detailed underground survey of the area surrounding Stonehenge, totaling more than four square miles. This astonishing research affects the future in the development of technology and will only lead to greater achievements.

Review- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Based on Mark
Haddon's novel on a boy with Asperger's syndrome, Simon Stephen's adaptation ofThe Curious Incident of the Dog in
the Night-Time configures Christopher's book into a school play. The
metatextuality transforms the audience in a daze of entertainment as we learn
about Christopher and ourselves. Christopher is a teenage mathematician with some behavioral difficulties remains a fixation of uncontrolled wonder.Christopher repeats that he can only tell the truth. Christopher states
"And
this shows that sometimes people want to be stupid and they do not want to know
the truth" while in pursuit for discovering who killed Mrs. Shears' dog.
The irony of Christopher's actions and words lead to discovering that adults
lie to each other, to children and to themselves to protect themselves from the
truth of the world.High tech and high quality, Bunny
Christie's design allows for an awe-inspiring and intimate performance due to
her huge mathematical grid ser flaring with life. Maps, cities, trains,
constellations, math, drawings, lights - Christopher's mind are pumped into
something so exhilarating it brings a sense of uncomfortability that is memorizing.
Equally, the tragedy of a torn up family due to Christopher's condition becomes
clear through the messiness of the parents' lives as they have a child who cannot
be touched.

The wonderous strange workings of Christopher's
mind, an internal process, became an external experience that I was able to
experience through this brilliant adaptation. The adaptation of Haddon's
unconventional bestseller became alive. Depicting the world through Christopher's eyes, the world is intimidating, exciting and overwhelming, depicting that he is a hero.Format and Review Inspired by: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/mar/13/curious-incident-dog-night-time-review

One may not be a fan or natural history or of art, but London's Natural History Museum has a way of taking one's breathe away, as does the grandeur of England. It is emotional to write about an earlier experience at the Natural History Museum after a variety of life changing events from viewing "Gilda" to standing at the same time in the Eastern and Western Hemisphere in Greenwich, to the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition UNDRESSED: A Brief History of Underwear, to the Windsor Castle and walking "The long Walk" of Windsor Great Park.

The lightening may capture one's eye in the London's Natural History Museum. Attending exhibitions of massive, size, scale and detail in the evening with a ceiling above to be looked at and appreciated in awe. The exterior structure built in 1881 commands grandeur. To be a simple person of a simple background and stand inside a place with such rich history with over 80 million items from entomology to zoology may inspire in one their own feeling of elegance, as if this place as well as the ones listed above and many others are inviting the visitors in as part of their history, part of their play as we as the individuals who walk these grounds and experience these sights are now more grand and elegant in our mind, body and souls as a result of engaging with them. I stood with specimens collected by Charles Darwin. How many Americans can say such a thing and realize the magnitude of appreciation they should have for such an experience?

Gilda was exciting and thrilling for millions of people. Her attire, personal looks and attitude could be described as grand and elegant. Her hair was always perfect in that film. It was classy and styled. Her clothing was fitted (tailored) and made her look distinguished and painfully sexy at the same time. Her comments were witty and smart. In my mind, she represents the grandeur and elegance of women that so few know how to carry and handle. She wielded that opulence with power and fire. She was fierce, determined, brilliant and never lost her femininity. Although she was only 5 feet 6 inches she stood and left a legend that was 100 feet tall. Although she was not from England, she is known here in my "tube talks" of London and throughout the world.

Greenwich displays the grandeur and elegance of the prior British Naval Academy (The U.S. version of Annapolis), the amazement of standing in 2 hemispheres at the same time, and the natural grandeur of one of thousands of England's green, lush parks. Standing in the places were great gentlemen were molded, formed and prepared for battle is powerful and humbling. Grandeur and elegance require at most times, hard work, and that is exactly what those men did who passed through those grounds. It reminds one of our own U.S. military and our veterans, who in my mind, regardless of race, color, creed or ethnicity have stood, worked, struggled and died for the grandeur and elegance I see in America but feel here in England.

"Undressed, " from Swarovski crystal on bras and underwear to "Dinner pyjamas" in long black, smooth, sensual, provocative but elegant black velvet. Black velvet can be elegant and grand in England, but also sexy and intriguing on the London tube creating lasting memories for some...

Windsor Castle is one of the world's greatest testaments to grandeur and elegance. The grounds are meticulously manicured surrounded by brilliant colors of the most exotic flowers. The history associated with St. George's Hall is one of the greatest one can hear. The detail, ornate ceiling made of hundreds of crests and stately meals where the plates and glasses are actually measured in distance from one another for official dining at a marvelous dinner table where the most distinguished an historical figures of history sat there and dined from the most exquisite dinner plates and glasses seen in the world. Even Hitler himself would not bomb this castle as it is rumored he wanted to make it his own personal residence.

"The Long Walk" of Windsor was everything that is grand and elegant in my mind. There are no words to describe it. It ended with a full moon and hundreds of dear clearing the path as a friend of mine and I walked to an elegant train station with an sophisticated, posh bar and restaurant steps away from the train. My deepest gratitude to England and my professors here for making me for the 1st time in my life feel grand and elegant in a way I have never felt before....it will ALWAYS be remembered and cherished...

Museums in the United States are quiet, personal experiences. If we have shared experiences, they tend to only happen during group tours during a question and answer session. So it was to my great surprise to see chatting encouraged at the Natural History Museum "Lates" event. Many small group clusters congregated around the bar, chatting and laughing amongst their friends. There was a musician in the corner playing music for others eating in a makeshift dining area. It was baffling to me to see that this grand, expansive museum essentially turned into a backdrop for a restaurant bar. Baffling, sure, but also exciting at the prospect of the forbidden. Not only was eating and drinking encouraged, but it seemed as if the organizers of this event genuinely wanted patrons to enjoy themselves in a fun social way rather than an educational way normally experienced. While out of my normal realm, it was easy to assimilate to this culture and become part of the spectacle.

In between imbibing and looking at the exhibits, I did manage to make a few observations during the outing. First, it seems like the British are "less precious" with their artifacts than in the States. While there were some encased in glass, more artifacts were out in the open, just an arms length away. Second, the British patrons who I encountered were just as obsessed with being part of "the scene" as Americans are. Every few feet, I saw snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook open with pictures and videos being posted. Although I'm finding the stereotype that British people are more reserved to be absolutely true, it is nice to see social media documentation cross all cultures and borders.

Lastly, I noticed an abnormally high amount of children at the event. While it seems like The Natural History Museum is geared towards children with their child friendly exhibits, I didn't expect to see as many as I did. With the inclusion of alcohol, I expected mostly adults, but it was nice to see the kids were as enthusiastic--if not more so--than the adults. Who knows, maybe it was just because they were up past their bedtime.